00:11.910 --> 00:20.940 James Webster: Well, good afternoon everybody. Thank you for joining us Deal or No Deal and what's ahead for the brokers. My name is James Webster. I am the CEO of 00:20.940 --> 00:32.670 National Business Capital and Services. We're located in Bohemia, New York. And we have been in business since 2007, helping small businesses across the country 00:32.700 --> 00:42.750 obtain working capital and ancillary services for their business. Today, I am joined with some industry veterans in discussions with what is going on in 00:42.750 --> 00:52.110 today's current state. We have Gerald Watson from the Watson Group, Jared Weitz from United Capital Source and Brock Blake from Lendio. So I'll let these 00:52.110 --> 00:56.370 gentlemen introduce themselves and their companies that they respectively represent. 00:58.860 --> 01:07.650 Jared Weitz: Sure, I'll go first. My name is Jared, I'm CEO and founder of United Capital Source. We've been a consultative consultative marketplace broker since 01:07.680 --> 01:16.680 2011. And have brokered close to a billion dollars in financing to over 25,000 small businesses. 01:19.180 --> 01:27.250 Brock Blake: Right, I'll jump in. Thanks for having me. My name is Brock Blake. I'm the Founder and CEO of Lendio. Largest marketplace in the United States for 01:27.250 --> 01:40.960 business loans. We work with, just like a lot of you on helping small business owners get access to capital and we've funded a little over, well, now with PPP, we can 01:40.960 --> 01:48.640 say $13 billion dollars, 200,000 customers. So glad to be here. 01:49.570 --> 01:51.730 James Webster: Thank you, Brock. Mr. Gerald. 01:52.350 --> 02:01.020 Gerald Watson: Yes sir, my name is Gerald Watson. I'm with the Watson Group. We specialize in alternative financing, factoring, PO funding and contract 02:01.020 --> 02:11.880 financing. Been in the industry about 35 years do some MCA Business. Wrote some articles that they've you've probably seen in deBanked magazine on how to develop 02:11.880 --> 02:15.990 your factoring business for ISOs. And glad to be here today as well. 02:16.800 --> 02:28.920 James Webster: Great, thank you for joining us. So I am not only a moderator on this panel, but also a panelists. So I appreciate the patience here as I 02:28.980 --> 02:40.020 rattle through some of the questions and also give off some answers. For my first question, I will this one's for everybody. But Brock, why don't you start us off? 02:40.440 --> 02:46.710 How is the pandemic, the current pandemic impacted you and Lendio today? 02:48.280 --> 02:59.530 Brock Blake: Well, first thing is I think that it probably took 10 years off my life. At least, this has been quite a roller coaster as we started to see all 02:59.530 --> 03:09.010 the news around the pandemic and then how it impacts the lenders in the industry. And we're tracking you know, the lenders and how much volume they were lending 03:09.010 --> 03:17.710 and just like day by day, there was a period of time or every single day lenders were saying okay, we're tightening our box or we're pausing lending and you 03:17.710 --> 03:30.430 have, you know, what used to be 100% capacity is now almost overnight dropping down to, you know, I think we we measured about 20% capacity. And so your business 03:30.430 --> 03:40.660 one night to the next goes out of business and you're trying to figure out, you know, what do we do and we also were watching the Cares Act very closely and felt 03:40.660 --> 03:49.330 like there was going to be a stimulus package we weren't quite sure what that would look like and but felt once we found out the details, we decided we were 03:49.330 --> 04:02.830 going to be all in and so we really rallied the organization around the Paycheck Protection Program and jumped into it and build some we were fortunate to land 04:02.830 --> 04:17.140 a couple deals one with Jack Henry to the added 200 banks and credit unions on our platform and a couple other non bank SBA lenders and we wouldn't have it and 04:17.680 --> 04:27.010 you know, we It was no question one of the most fulfilling kind of components in my or time periods of my entire career and but also one of the most 04:27.010 --> 04:35.950 challenging and one of the most painful, we had some incredible high five moments where, you know, you're thinking about all these business owners that are going 04:35.950 --> 04:45.190 out of business and the urgency around that and the money is running out, you know, so quickly and everyone just needs their money yesterday and you're trying to 04:45.190 --> 04:57.040 help facilitate that and, and no one had ever done a PPP loan before and but in the end, we ended up you know, we're we're tracking about 100,000 loans that 04:57.040 --> 05:16.600 we've done in the last week and or 8 to 10 weeks, and 8 to $9 billion of loans. And, and so it's been it's been an incredible experience, like I said, the highest of 05:16.600 --> 05:27.250 highs, the lowest of lows. But the body of work or some is something that will be will be forever proud of just being a part of that experience and helping these small 05:27.250 --> 05:34.300 business owners during that time. Yeah, it can we can write a full book about it. And so I'll stop talking now. Otherwise, I'll just keep telling more and more 05:34.300 --> 05:34.840 stories. 05:36.010 --> 05:40.450 James Webster: Thank you. I appreciate that, Brock, Jared, how about your business? 05:40.840 --> 05:51.340 Jared Weitz: I'm sure I think similar to what Brock said, you know, we went from dealing with 30 to 40 different MCA working capital lenders. And each day, we 05:51.340 --> 06:01.690 were finding new guidelines or lenders that needed to pause. And so we decided to follow the securitization fairly closely to find out what's going on with those 06:01.690 --> 06:10.270 lenders. We spoke with a lot of our other private lenders on the side and just figured out what was really going on. during that timeframe. I think, aside 06:10.270 --> 06:19.960 from speaking to lenders, and clients, you're also talking to your employees, right? Employees were also wondering what's going on. The world is burning down 06:19.960 --> 06:31.660 around them, right? And so you were really calming down kind of three parties at once, while managing your own anxiety. And so, I thought it was extremely just a fast 06:31.660 --> 06:42.130 paced stress that really needed to be focused on and put into a process. And so we automated our PPP process, we got on with a few different lenders, small, 06:42.130 --> 06:55.330 private SBA bank that was able to just serve us our needs. So processed a good amount. On the inside, some of our folks just focused on customer service. Speaking 06:55.330 --> 07:01.270 to our book, and doing whatever working capital deals that we could and thankfully, we didn't need to furlough and layoff anyone 07:01.690 --> 07:04.240 James Webster: That's awesome. Mr. Gerald. 07:05.140 --> 07:21.220 Gerald Watson: Yes, sir! Like hey, our business exploded. You know, the fact is that what the increase in demand for PPE products, you know, if you stop 07:21.220 --> 07:31.270 someone in the city today on the street and ask them what PPE is, what kind of PPE that they'll reach in their pocket pull out a mass or a little thing a hand 07:31.270 --> 07:39.640 sanitizer, maybe some gloves? Six months ago if he asked someone in the city on the street what kind of PPE they had in their pocket, they may pull out a 357 07:39.640 --> 07:40.180 Magnum 07:40.330 --> 07:42.370 James Webster: is gonna say you might get hit across the head. 07:42.820 --> 07:51.850 Gerald Watson: I try so it's a totally different reality and they're so the demand for products right across the board, commercial and government is there 07:51.850 --> 08:00.280 and companies are getting contracts. I mean, you can fog a mirror, you can get a PPE contract for millions of dollars and they got to find a way to fund that 08:00.280 --> 08:10.690 stuff. And that's one of the things that we do. So it I guess in a nutshell, it's it's a new product, same products, new markets. And you know, one of the things 08:10.690 --> 08:21.550 we said and the articles that we wrote was was getting in position, and the opportunity is still there. But for ISOs, getting in position, expanding your product 08:21.550 --> 08:29.590 base to respond to the demands of the market, is one of the things that's essential to survive and grow. And that's what we've done. 08:29.590 --> 08:42.470 James Webster: And I appreciate that. And I agree. As far as, as far as National, you know. And on my, for myself, personally, I think it's changed. It's impacted 08:42.470 --> 08:52.790 me in some positive ways. I've spent some more time with my family, I've really connected, you know, I have a nine year old daughter, a two year old son, I really 08:52.850 --> 09:00.440 had a newfound relationship with my daughter. And I know this isn't about family. It's about work and what's going on in the market. But that's just my two 09:00.440 --> 09:11.420 cents on some positive that I saw through this pandemic. On the business side, you know, as well, we we're participating in the PPP. It was very rough in the 09:11.420 --> 09:21.140 beginning, like Brock was mentioning, Jared was mentioning a lot of sleepless nights. A lot of when you were saying Jared about trying to calm down the 09:21.140 --> 09:29.690 clients, the lenders, as well as the employees. I mean, I know exactly what you're saying. We did more zoom calls. And it was on the phone more over the these past 09:29.690 --> 09:38.930 three months then I have probably the past 10 years. It's just been non stop. And you know together, I'm confident that we will come out stronger on the other 09:38.930 --> 09:48.890 end of this. We've been prepared for some sort of a downturn. And not knowing what it was just being prepared for it has just made us stronger and ready to 09:49.130 --> 10:02.000 tackle the future. But what that holds. The next question, and we'll start with Gerald. How have these recent events shaped How a broker should approach the 10:02.000 --> 10:09.470 funding partner relationship. Actually, I'm sorry, maybe that's not the best question to start with you for Gerald. Jared, if you don't mind, I'll start with 10:09.470 --> 10:15.260 you on that one, How have your events shaped how brokers should approach funding partner relationships? 10:16.500 --> 10:25.590 Jared Weitz: You know, I think now more than ever, with the losses that funding companies have taken, they really want to understand where their paper is going to 10:25.590 --> 10:34.500 be coming from as they open back up. And so we've always at United had really good relationships with our lenders, you know, we've spoken to a lot of them 10:34.500 --> 10:41.850 personally over this timeframe. And it was really nice, because a lot of them were first asking, you know, just how we work personally, and vice versa. And the first 10:41.880 --> 10:49.530 5-10 minutes of each phone call was really just catching up and making sure people's families were okay, and having some laughs before we kind of got into 10:49.650 --> 11:03.600 talking about, you know, COVID. Um, I think, for us, you know, and for brokers moving forward, you know, the stacking is going to be, I think something that really 11:03.600 --> 11:10.500 goes away quickly, aside from merchants being a little more cautious about what they're doing. And funding company sees if they'll just, you know, really cut 11:10.500 --> 11:22.680 somebody off very quickly, I think that they're really going to be starting by taking the larger and more veteran ISOs first, and I think smaller shops will 11:22.680 --> 11:27.240 first have to go through guys like us in order to build a reputation back a little bit. 11:28.800 --> 11:31.710 James Webster: I agree with that. Brock, how about you? 11:33.550 --> 11:41.200 Brock Blake: Yeah, I mean, I think there's some great comments, Jared, you know, it is about the relationships that you have with the lenders, you know, 11:41.200 --> 11:49.810 and being able to say, you know, it's, there's the great times when things are going well, what's the relationship like? And then when things are not going 11:49.810 --> 11:58.690 well, that's where the relationship really becomes strengthened? And how do you work together to solve problems? And, you know, from from a partnership 11:58.690 --> 12:08.380 standpoint, trying to understand what are the lenders priorities? What what type of customers are they seeking to fund that if their box isn't completely wide 12:08.380 --> 12:22.450 open? Like it was pre COVID? And what types of customers are they looking for? Is it the renewal customer? Is it a certain industry? You know, and so 12:22.450 --> 12:31.420 from our standpoint, is it's lender by lender really trying to understand their priority? The type of customers are looking for, how do we get deeper into 12:31.420 --> 12:41.860 the data of the files, you know, to know, maybe this, it's a restaurant and they actually or a different business, that their cash flow improved? During COVID. 12:41.860 --> 12:55.450 It was, you know, counter to the cycle to the, to the pandemic? And so, from our standpoint, like, like Jared said, it's kind of same this, how do we how do we 12:55.450 --> 13:05.170 deepen the relationship? How do we help drive success? What does success look like to them? And how do we drive it during this timeframe? Until you know, the 13:05.170 --> 13:14.080 market opens back up? And and, you know, people can start lending the way they want to, but as of right now, it's more about understanding, then, then it's not 13:14.080 --> 13:21.340 going to be you know, we're not gonna be able to be at the same loan volume. We were, you know, 8 or 10 weeks, 10 weeks ago. 13:21.340 --> 13:32.010 James Webster: Yeah, that's for sure. You know, here at National relationships have always been super important to us. And with the lenders, it's not nothing 13:32.010 --> 13:42.510 different, probably even more so. And during these times, just like what both you gentlemen are mentioning, speaking to a lot of those lenders, what 13:42.510 --> 13:52.260 else can we do to strengthen those relationships, I did notice, we do have a big partner channel here at National but we do not have an ISO division where we do 13:52.260 --> 14:03.960 not take on business from other brokers, but immediately noticed an uptick in request, as soon as the lender started shutting down some of the smaller 14:03.960 --> 14:14.310 lenders, I'm sorry, some of the smaller brokers. For us, we were probably one of the last three with you know, with the gentleman with the other two. And coming 14:14.310 --> 14:24.330 back out of this, I don't see that changing much for at least for my business model. We don't plan on taking on ISO business. It's just not hasn't been part of our 14:24.330 --> 14:37.890 model. And we'll try to service as many as we can, as many clients as we can through our traditional means of getting gaming business. But it's a different world and 14:37.890 --> 14:45.540 the conversations are different. Some of the lenders, you know, the conversations I'm having with them, you could tell they're, they have a foot out the door or 14:45.540 --> 14:54.570 they're trying to figure out what's you know, what's next for them, while others are just sitting here waiting for this to really pass through and to be 14:54.570 --> 15:05.010 confident in what they're lending to. And that's something we can get into a little bit later here. Keeping things rolling, how have these recent events 15:05.010 --> 15:11.460 reshaped customer views on working with non bank? So we'll start off with Brock. 15:13.580 --> 15:29.840 Brock Blake: Yeah, um, you know, I think that customers are, you know, right now it's tough to be able to get a loan outside of PPP. And so with business owners, 15:29.840 --> 15:39.950 they're in a difficult spot, I think it, it opens up their view to be able to say, what are my options? If, you know, prior, maybe it was only a my bank that I 15:39.950 --> 15:48.020 could that I felt comfortable going to? Now they might consider other options. Now, that doesn't mean we want to take advantage of that situation or put them in a 15:48.020 --> 15:57.350 difficult spot. To the contrary, they just have a more open view to what are the different loan products? What are the different lenders, what are the opportunities 15:57.350 --> 16:08.150 that are available during this time. I also think it's, you know, what the last recession, you know, many of the non bank lenders that are some of the largest 16:08.150 --> 16:17.690 lenders, you know, pre COVID were born out of the last recession. And so we it's been fun for us to be able to see some new players coming into the industry saying, 16:17.720 --> 16:27.650 all right, I have been waiting for this moment, I'm going to underwrite based off of a downturn, and I want and I'm well capitalized, and I want to go capture 16:27.650 --> 16:39.770 market share. We've had quite a few that have come to us and with that exact intent. And that are great products for the business owners. And so, you know, 16:39.770 --> 16:48.590 from from our standpoint, that with the customer relationship was okay, we have all these customers coming to us for PPP loans, let's help them get a PPP 16:48.590 --> 16:57.170 long, but let's build a relationship with them to be able to say, after you go through this PPP loan, which is going to be more of a short term bridge to get you 16:57.170 --> 17:05.150 through this pandemic. Now, what are your capital needs to make sure that you're you're able to grow and bring your team members back and invest in different 17:05.150 --> 17:17.900 marketing or resources or other things like that. And so we've had a really nice response from that customer base in a post PPP to explore other other loan 17:17.900 --> 17:18.680 products. 17:20.190 --> 17:23.490 James Webster: A great. Jared? 17:24.350 --> 17:36.710 Jared Weitz: I think, you know, look, I think that bigger banks and non bank SBAs have done a great job, you know, pre COVID, I think that no company or bank or 17:36.710 --> 17:45.020 funder is built to deal with 100% of their clientele at once. And that's really what was happening during this timeframe. And so I think these guys were just shutting 17:45.020 --> 17:55.820 off. And people that once had a really big confidence in being able to go to their non bank or bank, you know, or SBA lender really found that they would have 17:55.820 --> 18:06.680 to go search and find different options. And thankfully, our industry exists. And that technology that everyone use, really exists. Um, you know, for us, 18:06.680 --> 18:16.700 like Brock said, it was helpful to be able to see how many PPP loans we could, you know, move through automation, use them as an acquisition tool and a 18:16.700 --> 18:25.910 bridge to talk to them about how we can help further, you know, during and after this time. We were talking to fixes that probably would have never really spoken 18:25.910 --> 18:34.460 to us. Outside of this, to be honest, I mean, really big businesses that we found ourselves talking to. And thankfully, we followed up with them. And we've 18:34.460 --> 18:44.810 continued that relationship. So I've actually seen a big benefit in being able to do that, and our industry really shine there. You know, being able to use an 18:44.870 --> 18:54.530 automatic I'm sorry, an automated KYC and KYB and do this underwriting process faster than a Chase or somebody else. Felt, you know, really great. 18:55.500 --> 19:03.570 Hey, could I just throw one more thing in there? Jared made a great point. I think we not only did we see a bunch of customers that maybe are untraditional from 19:03.570 --> 19:13.050 what we'd see before as far as, you know, larger loan sizes or things like that through PPP. But one of the one of the things we you know, we see all these small 19:13.050 --> 19:24.390 businesses that wouldn't necessarily qualify for a cash flow loan that have also come back saying okay, well, I just got a PPP loan. Now I want another loan and here's 19:24.390 --> 19:34.980 my, here's my 941 and my payroll stubs, you know, like thinking that that's going to qualify for them a loan for a cash flow loan. And and you know, there is there 19:34.980 --> 19:43.980 is the downside of that. How do we manage the expectations around a bunch of people who just got a loan, that may not qualify for anything outside of a 19:43.980 --> 19:45.240 PPP going forward? 19:46.620 --> 19:57.570 James Webster: I agree with both with, excuse me, what both you say makes a lot of sense and brings it home. We will start off with Mr. Watson on this next one. 19:59.010 --> 20:07.470 Gerald, in your opinion, what is the likelihood of another shutdown in quarter four? And what should we expect? And how would you recommend that we prepare? 20:09.490 --> 20:24.490 Gerald Watson: Well, I am right behind me is a crystal ball. And in a pair of dice, and so you know, every morning we kind of wake up and take a look at the 20:24.490 --> 20:34.600 mirror and try and see which one we get the most insight from but what's going to happen in Q4 you know, I think we all know to be sure when we look at if we 20:34.600 --> 20:44.530 use how this year started, I think everyone's fairly optimistic and looking forward to 2020 had a good ring of good feel to it. And here we are today. So it's 20:44.950 --> 20:54.820 really hard to say but I can I can say this I don't really know what's gonna happen. I can tell you this. In our business, which isn't cashflow driven, unlike 20:54.820 --> 21:03.370 the MCA industry, you know, where you looking backwards. at someone's cash flow, when you look at asset based lending, and particularly things like PO 21:03.370 --> 21:13.690 funding and factoring, you know, we're able to we've got clients right now that are startups. Startup, brand new business, they got a large contract of large PO. 1 21:13.690 --> 21:22.900 million, 5 million, 10 million to supply product. And we're able to work with them to get that funded, because it's a different, it's a different set of 21:22.900 --> 21:36.010 dynamics. So, you know, what we found, James is that there's always a demand for asset based lending in good times and bad times, different products, same products, 21:36.010 --> 21:46.810 different issues. And so, you know, we're fairly optimistic when things are down, people are looking for money to speed up cash flow. When they got opportunity, 21:46.960 --> 21:58.120 they're looking for money to fund those. And the other thing, though, that we've done, and which is, I talked about in the first article, was how we the compliment 21:58.120 --> 22:07.330 between an MCA and asset based lending just a quick example, when a client which is relatively new in business, a large contract with a with a wine importer. 22:09.130 --> 22:19.600 And they were getting product from overseas. And so the problems that they had some containers that had to be funded pretty quickly, and they didn't have, we're 22:19.600 --> 22:31.660 going to put a factory line in place, that's going to take about a week and a half to do so. So what we did was we worked with one of our MCA partners, got an MCA 22:32.590 --> 22:46.180 funded the container, got a pretty attractive early pay discount. And then once the goods came in, we factored the invoice and paid off the MCA. So there's a real 22:46.180 --> 22:54.220 marriage a good way that the two can be used hand in hand. And that's what we see a lot more of in the future. 22:55.920 --> 23:00.390 James Webster: Thank you very much. Jared, what's your opinion on this? 23:02.430 --> 23:13.530 Jared Weitz: I think, um, you know, similar to what Gerald says, you know, for us, we've always been a consultative broker. So we're offering PO, we're 23:13.530 --> 23:25.830 offering AR? Look, I think that there's always a need and a demand for working capital in general. I mean, even through the times of March and April and May being 23:25.830 --> 23:36.150 on the phone myself and wanting to really understand kind of what the market feel was on a S&D level. Um, there was nothing but demand, right? The question was, 23:36.150 --> 23:46.800 who was qualifying at that time. And now as demand has even picked back up, we're still seeing a very high interest in it. I'm thinking and seeing that businesses 23:46.800 --> 23:54.030 taking a little bit longer to transact, right, merchants are measuring twice and cutting once, which I think is awesome. For the lender. I think it's great 23:54.030 --> 24:03.810 for them. But but it's something that we're all going to have to deal with on the broker side and taking, you know, deals a little bit more time to close. But I 24:03.810 --> 24:14.340 think we're going to deal with a more careful merchant. And as far as Q4, I think that everyone is really gearing up for both. I think people don't know what's 24:14.340 --> 24:22.680 going on. And they're saying, look, if there's going to be another downturn, I think it's going to be 50% of what it was. And the reason why I'm saying that is 24:22.680 --> 24:31.890 because I think that people's financial vulnerability will take, you know, more of a mindset now and people's understanding of what this is, and the actual effects 24:31.890 --> 24:44.340 of it have more of a mindset too. So I think if there is another Q4 downturn, I think it's 50% capacity to what it was as far as the shutdown. But I think people 24:44.340 --> 24:45.750 are preparing for both I know I am. 24:47.130 --> 24:47.610 James Webster: Brock? 24:49.520 --> 24:57.950 Jared Weitz: Yeah, it's tough. I mean, you have to prepare for the downside. I mean, my optimistic, you know, my mind won't let me think that it's going to 24:57.950 --> 25:08.210 happen that will come out of that. I just think there's so much of the decisions that have been made, we're fear of unknown. And the more data we get around this, 25:08.270 --> 25:19.700 the COVID, the more we can isolate, you know, resources to those that are the most vulnerable, and hopefully, you know, make good decisions to bring, you know, 25:19.700 --> 25:30.140 people back and do it in a way that doesn't put lives at risk. And I don't realize that that's a tough balance. And, and we're not here to necessarily talk 25:30.140 --> 25:41.450 about that, but I, you know, based on, you know, I'm not, I'm not in New York, and, you know, some of the high concentration places, and so, you know, rest, I've 25:41.480 --> 25:50.900 been in, you know, our headquarters in Utah, and I'm in Southern California right now. And, and it's, you know, in most places there, things are starting to open up 25:51.560 --> 26:01.160 and, you know, there's some positive things. So the trends I see are positive, and hopefully that doesn't mean that, you know, opening back up means a spike in 26:01.160 --> 26:11.660 cases, and other things like that. And so I don't know, it's, it's tough to see, the way we think about this business is that we're preparing for the worst, but 26:11.660 --> 26:20.210 feeling like you know, that three months after they open up is when lenders will start more aggressively lending. You know, I think, like, if they were to open 26:20.210 --> 26:28.850 up in August 1, you know, add three more months to that. So the lenders can actually say, Okay, well, what did it What did the business look like, during the 26:28.850 --> 26:38.780 pandemic? What do they now look like three months post pandemic, now, we got a much clearer picture of, you know, what their cash flow looks like, and they can be 26:38.960 --> 26:49.100 more confident in their underwriting. And so, you know, we're kind of looking that that's how we've thought about timing, and Q$, and how we prepare and plan but 26:49.580 --> 26:51.890 we'll see, we'll see how it all shakes out. 26:52.950 --> 27:05.700 James Webster: So like yourself Brock, I'm an optimist. And I'd love to think that even if there is a unfortunate second flare up, come next cold and flu 27:05.700 --> 27:18.690 season. And a little bit of what you mentioned, Jared, where this country is, and and what we've seen what we saw happen, and although it's been devastating, and it 27:18.690 --> 27:28.230 has on the health care on the health care side, what it also did, and the financial impact that it had to this country is just been a travesty. And I think some 27:28.230 --> 27:38.130 people are gonna weigh that out and just say, you know, you know, does the one way outweigh the other? And what are my risks and in some will be dictated by 27:38.130 --> 27:49.590 government, some will be dictated by by the population, I think, you know, as I'm starting to get out and wander out more people are out there, they're, they're 27:49.590 --> 27:58.170 not wearing masks, they're looking forward to being back out. And then there's the other side that are just fearful of coming out of their house still at this 27:58.170 --> 28:08.220 point, and, you know, it's really a personal personal opinion, what they'll decide to do, I think a lot more, my opinion is, if we do have another flare up, it's 28:08.220 --> 28:19.920 going to be dictated more on the individual personal side, whether they decide to quarantine or not. And that's just again, my opinion in that matter. Um, next 28:19.920 --> 28:27.270 question and this is for everybody, have we begun the recovery at this point? Whoever wants to kick us off? 28:29.850 --> 28:39.360 Jared Weitz: Sure, I'll pick us off. Um, I don't think we've begun the recovery necessarily. I think that, you know, people are starting to peek their head out a 28:39.360 --> 28:47.220 little bit and understand what the weather feels like. I think that lenders are seeing their collection rates start to recover a little bit, which has been helpful 28:47.220 --> 29:01.020 and possibly why guidelines are opening up more and more. I think that when states start to reopen, and then we see a full 30 to 90 days, kind of after that, 29:01.200 --> 29:06.810 that's when I really believe that we'll be in a recovery. Um, that's just my personal goal. 29:08.280 --> 29:08.550 James Webster: Gerald? 29:10.340 --> 29:21.650 Gerald Watson: You know, I think that a lot of it's going to be industry driven, more industry specific. We're seeing in a substantial amount of our clients are 29:21.650 --> 29:34.040 contractors, for example, we've seen some drop off there. Seeing some drop off in new construction. On the other hand, we've seen an increase in demand for 29:34.040 --> 29:45.260 companies who are looking to get contracts who are for certain kinds of retail products. We've just in the past month, for example, we got a client who got a 29:45.260 --> 30:01.760 national contract with the national hardware chain, to provide hand sanitizer and to manufacturing contact and that's just growing and growing. We have other clients 30:01.760 --> 30:12.920 who have contracts with industry, and businesses, plants, distribution centers, warehouses that are opening up who are requiring their to provide their 30:12.920 --> 30:22.160 employees with a certain amount of PPE, whether it's masks or gloves and alike. So, and I think notwithstanding what the economy does, I think we're 30:22.160 --> 30:32.870 gonna see that demand continuing. I think the other thing we're gonna see kind of, interestingly, is the evolution of new industries. And the way people do 30:32.870 --> 30:41.930 business, you know, I mean, this conference is an example of that. And I think that more and more companies are going to are going to look at innovative 30:41.930 --> 30:50.540 ways to do business, I think as a result, they're going to be new industries, and types of business that will begin to emerge, which will create opportunities. And 30:50.540 --> 30:58.670 so it'll be a little bit of a mixed bag, I think we'll see certainly some driving forces, but something's going to take a while to catch up. I mean, the car 30:58.670 --> 31:07.160 rental industry is gonna take a while, you know, that demand is driven by air transportation, right? It's gonna be a while for that to come back. And so same 31:07.160 --> 31:17.420 with the hotel industry. So I think certain industries are gonna, we're gonna see definitely some real growth, others are gonna gonna lag. And I think once we closing 31:17.420 --> 31:20.210 out the rest of this year, a little bit of a mixed bag and promote. 31:21.950 --> 31:23.870 James Webster: Great, thank you. Brock? 31:25.520 --> 31:27.470 Brock Blake: I think they covered it, nothing to add, 31:28.670 --> 31:38.600 James Webster: Kind of with you guys on that. All right, we have five minutes left, we have two questions. And we have two questions that came in from 31:38.630 --> 31:49.490 attendees. So we'll try and get to all of them. We've been hearing a lot on social media, what people put out there as far as lender saying, were still funding, some 31:49.670 --> 32:01.250 have said they never closed. In your opinions, what is real life versus hearsay, out there with what people are doing versus what they're saying they're doing? 32:02.800 --> 32:14.140 Jared Weitz: Love this question. Gone? Um, you know, look, we were dealing with funding companies during the whole time and trying to fund whatever we could. The 32:14.140 --> 32:23.590 ones that we were funding with, weren't talking on social media about it at all. They were too busy really handling the company at a company level. I mean, even 32:23.590 --> 32:34.270 from CEO down, right? So it was the folks that were mentioning that they were funding on LinkedIn, or any, you know, Facebook forums, that I myself, in my 32:34.270 --> 32:44.260 experience recently would reach out to and trying to understand what they were doing. And I didn't find that those folks were doing much. I think that the 32:44.260 --> 32:53.830 industry's main funders will still be its main funders, and I think the private ones that existed before, um, I think a percentage of those will still exist. And then 32:53.830 --> 32:57.430 I think there will be some that have a really difficult time starting back up again/ 32:59.130 --> 33:10.980 James Webster: For us, I you know, I there's only a small handful that I will take it at, at word. And very similar, most we're not saying much, or telling us hey, 33:10.980 --> 33:21.000 we're not until further notice. The ones that said we were for us, it was okay. And we'll continue to test as we tested throughout the entire time and and really 33:21.000 --> 33:32.940 came up with exactly what you had said that most were just not. You know, it just is what it is. All right. Mr. Brock, did you want to add anything to that? 33:34.200 --> 33:42.930 Brock Blake: Yeah, I just think it's interesting. You know, some of the, I mean, you've pretty much covered it, there are a bunch of the securitization market is 33:42.930 --> 33:52.770 going to drive, you know, some of the larger lenders. Like do they have access to capital? And some of them, some of them do, but it's not just their appetite to 33:52.770 --> 33:59.760 lend and whether they can go and underwrite based off of credit boxes are good, good data that they're getting from their customers. It's do they have the 33:59.760 --> 34:09.840 capital to be able to put the money to work and we all know that, but specifically the securitization market that's it's dried up right now. And some of the larger 34:09.840 --> 34:12.330 lenders, it's going to be a little while before they're back. 34:16.950 --> 34:23.340 James Webster: This is another good one, how should a broker truly evaluate the circumstances right now? I don't know that we have time to answer that part of the 34:23.340 --> 34:37.980 question, but maybe the second part in your own way for a broker, is it time to stay the course jump in or consider an exit altogether? I'd love to hear from each 34:37.980 --> 34:44.760 of you. I don't think we have an at the time to hear why but but maybe if you could just tell us what you feel. 34:47.090 --> 34:55.220 Jared Weitz: I'll say very quickly. Yeah. As someone that's been in the industry a long time I'm not thinking about jumping ship. I'm totally thinking and 34:55.220 --> 35:04.970 planning and have planned on how to stay the course. Look, I think any entrepreneur in general, if you plan on being in business for X amount of years, you're 35:04.970 --> 35:14.240 going to have a ton of stuff thrown at you. And if every time something was thrown at you, you gave in the towel, you have a lot of new stuff a lot. So I think 35:14.750 --> 35:27.830 the really good operators will stay the course and down the hatches like I have, I think, guys that were making them differently in the industry, I'll say are going to 35:27.830 --> 35:29.330 have a difficult time starting back up. 35:31.880 --> 35:32.540 James Webster: Mr. Gerald? 35:33.110 --> 35:46.490 Gerald Watson: Yeah, just real quick on my end, we will definitely stay in. To ISOs, look to become a looked at to adding value, adding value is everything, look to 35:46.490 --> 35:57.620 become a trusted resource with your customers. Understand you're in the solutions business, not just passing paper, look to them to help solve their 35:57.620 --> 36:06.380 problems. They they're dealing with problems or opportunities. And what you want to have in your toolkit is a mix of funding products that can help them 36:06.380 --> 36:07.640 address both sides. 36:08.570 --> 36:11.240 James Webster: Great answer. How about you Brock? 36:11.960 --> 36:19.820 Brock Blake: Yeah, I mean, downturn creates opportunity, just like you said, it's not going to be the same old business that we've been doing the last 36:19.820 --> 36:31.280 few years. Where, you know, the demand from lenders is as high as it's ever been. And now we have to get a little more creative around, you know, how are we going 36:31.280 --> 36:41.060 to drive value? What are the loan products, you know, maybe it's like Gerald said, asset backed loans, or maybe now SBA loans or other things like that, to be 36:41.060 --> 36:52.910 able to, you know, create new opportunities that maybe didn't exist before. So it's, we're not gonna be able to rely on kind of everything that we've just always 36:52.910 --> 37:01.550 done. If we get creative, that I think that will make you make us all better entrepreneurs, it'll be good for the industry, it'll be good for the customers, and 37:01.550 --> 37:02.420 we'll come out strong. 37:03.950 --> 37:15.980 James Webster: Great, thank you. We have, we're probably over by 10 seconds. But my input on that is really evaluate your personal circumstance. If you feel 37:15.980 --> 37:26.750 you have a book, and you're able to, you know, kind of trim down some of the fat, tighten some of the reins and restructure a bit. And then I think you should stay 37:26.750 --> 37:36.980 the course, if you just started, you put a lot of capital into this, and you don't really have that big of a book or an understanding on the industry. I don't 37:36.980 --> 37:45.230 like to tell people what to do. But you know, maybe look for something else. It is going to be a bit of a road to recovery. And if you're not prepared for it, 37:45.230 --> 37:54.980 it's going to be a very rough one. I think the more prepared you are, the better you'll be at it. It's really what it comes down to. I think that's all the 37:54.980 --> 38:02.810 time we have. We are definitely over time. We did not get to answer some of these questions. I apologize, but I'll try to maybe get to some of them and pass them out 38:02.810 --> 38:08.840 to the panelists to see if we can't answer these. But thank you very much, guys. Appreciate your time and good luck. 38:09.690 --> 38:10.410 Jared Weitz: Thanks, everyone.